The camera is a tool for engagement before it is a tool for documentation. Take the shot, then show the kid. A camper who feels seen has a better day, and a parent who sees that has a better summer. Every photo in this guide works toward both.
Quick reference
200 usable photos a day is the floor. 300 is a strong day.
Faces first. A variety of perspectives.
Sort as you go: keepers up, trash out, follow-ups flagged to a director.
The waterfront every day, sailing, boating, waterskiing. Flag before every meal. Performances: shoot the audience.
Lenses: 18-55 default, 50mm f/1.8 for faces and low light, 75-300 for daylight reach.
01 · The daily job
200 a day
Two hundred usable photos is the floor, three hundred is a strong day. Usable means sharp, lit, and alive: a photo a parent could screenshot and text to grandma.
You shoot.
You sort: keepers, trash, and flags for follow-up.
Flag anything an adult should see, a visible injury, sunburn, or bandage, to a director the same day. It does not go in the set.
Last night's evening program goes into the next day's set.
Families check every night, so the day's keepers go out the same day.
02 · What we're after
Faces, moments, care
Faces first
Parents scan every photo for one thing: their kid. A gorgeous shot of the lake with nobody in it is a postcard. A clear, happy face is the product.
A variety of perspectives
Wide and tight. High and low. Horizontal and vertical. Posed and candid. The day's set should feel like a day at camp, not a contact sheet of the same shot.
The camera is camper care
Thirty seconds at the back of the camera, showing a kid their photo, tells them somebody sees them. Pull kids together for a shot and you have built a moment, not just recorded one. You are not a photographer visiting camp. You are camp, holding a camera.
Getting the pose, and the smile
Engage kids where they are, with what they are doing, during a pause in the program. While they are waiting to get in the climbing tower, for instance. Introduce yourself, and before one or more of the group heads off, ask to get a photo. You do this once with every kid and they will pose for you. They will mirror your expression. Shoot joyfully.
03 · Where the photos are
Work the three windows
Every morning, look at the program schedule and make a short list of what you will shoot and when. Pick things that are active, and pick spaces that are easy for you to photograph. Faces and energy from the activity, good light and room to move from the space. Plan around both.
The waterfront · every day, best light
No free swim here, but the lake is where camp happens: sailing, boating, waterskiing.
Kids helping each other, hauling boats, out on the water. Shoot the pairs, the clusters, the small groups off on their own.
On the 75-300: kids out on the water, boats heading in, a skier up on the water, kids hauling boats up the beach.
On the 50mm: two kids working together to get a boat back in. That shot is perfect every time.
Flag, before every meal · several times a day
The whole camp gathers at the flagpole before every meal. Every face at camp, more than once a day. The easiest place all week to get faces.
Shoot wide for the gathering, then go tight on small groups.
Kids being silly, doing bits. Catch it. More than one kid in frame beats a solo shot.
Performances · whenever the camp gathers
Take the stage-from-the-audience shot once. The better photos face the other way.
Shoot the audience from the stage. Zoom in on the happy faces.
Anticipate the laugh. The reaction is coming; be aimed at faces when it lands.
Shoot performers from the side and from below the stage edge.
04 · Making good frames
The frame, and the sharpness
Make the frame
Get close, then take three steps closer. Fill the frame with people.
Shoot at their eye level. Kneel for younger campers; looking down at kids flattens every photo.
Clean up the background. Step left or right to lose the trash can, the golf cart, the pile of life jackets.
Zoom with your feet before you zoom with the lens.
Make it sharp
Wipe the lens first. A smudged lens ruins more photos than anything else at camp.
Focus on the face: put the focus point on a kid's eye, half-press to lock, then shoot.
Put light on faces. Have subjects face the light, and never shoot with the sun or a bright window directly behind them.
Two hands on the camera. Hold the shutter for a burst when there is action.
Choosing your focus point
Left on its own, the camera picks a focus point for you, and it usually picks whatever is nearest: a shoulder, a railing, the kid in front of the kid you wanted. Take the choice back:
Set the center point and keep it there. Press the AF-point button at the top right corner on the back, then use the arrows or dial to select the single center point. On these cameras the center point is the most accurate one; make it your home.
Then use the move: focus, hold, recompose. Put the center point on the face (the eye when you are close), half-press until it beeps, KEEP holding the half-press, and swing the frame to the composition you want. Press through. Sharp face, good frame, every time.
Wide zoomed-out scenes forgive; tight and low-light frames do not. On the 50mm opened up, focus is inches deep: it must be the eye, and lean back to recompose rather than stepping, or you will walk out of your own focus.
Running kids: keep the point on them, hold a burst, and take the sharp one. Volume beats perfection on action.
05 · The Rebel kit
Your cameras and lenses
The bodies are Canon Rebels, T5 and T7, more than one of each. Two modes cover most of what you will shoot.
No-flash auto · start here
Turn the mode dial to the lightning bolt with a slash through it, Flash Off.
Full auto, flash locked off. Frame, half-press the shutter to focus, press the rest of the way to shoot.
Indoors and in shade the camera slows the shutter to gather light. Plant your elbows against your body, hold still, and take two of everything.
Av mode · aperture priority, when you want control
Turn the mode dial to Av. You pick the aperture, the camera picks the shutter.
Spin the dial behind the shutter button to change the f-number.
Low f-number (f/2.8 to f/4): one or two people, blurred background, more light. Portraits.
Higher f-number (f/8): groups and activity shots, more of the scene in focus.
ISO: 100 to 200 in sun, 400 in shade, 800 to 1600 indoors.
Watch the shutter in the viewfinder. If it drops below 60 (1/60 of a second), raise the ISO until it climbs back. Below 60, handheld shots blur.
Make the 50 f/1.8 shine · Av and P
The 50 is the best glass in the bag for faces and for anything lit by indoor light alone. Two ways to get the most out of it:
In Av: set f/1.8 to f/2.8 for one or two faces. The background melts and the wide opening buys you shutter speed where there is little light. Keep the shutter at or above 1/60, raise ISO if it drops. This is your evening-program and dining-hall setting.
In P (program): the camera picks aperture and shutter, you grab and go. On the fast 50 it leans the aperture open in low light and keeps the shutter usable, so it is the fastest way to a sharp indoor face when there is no time to think. Set ISO to 800 to 1600 indoors and let P do the rest.
The exposure triangle · why a photo is bright or dark
Three settings control the light. Move one and you trade against the others.
Aperture, the f-number. Low (f/1.8) means a big opening, lots of light, a blurred background. High (f/8) means a small opening, less light, more of the scene in focus.
Shutter speed. Fast (1/500) freezes a kid mid-jump but needs more light. Slow (1/60) gathers light but blurs motion. Below 1/60 handheld, even still subjects go soft.
ISO. Low (100) is clean and needs bright light. High (1600) shoots in the dark but adds grain. Raise it only as far as you need to keep the shutter fast enough.
The working rule: in daylight, low ISO, let aperture and shutter do the work. As the light drops, raise ISO first, then open the aperture, keep the shutter at or above 1/60. A grainy sharp photo is a keeper; a clean blurry one is trash.
Which lens, when
18-55 Kitthe default
Stays on the camera. Covers the flag gathering, the dining hall, cabins, and whole activities. If you carry one lens, it is this one. Its weakness is low light and reach, so raise the ISO indoors and switch to the 75-300 when you need distance.
50mm f/1.8faces & low light
The portrait lens. It frames tighter than you expect, so step back. Open at f/1.8 to f/2.8, the background melts and you gain shutter where there is little light. Use it for portraits, golden hour, evening programs, and performance faces without flash. It is also the lens for anything lit by indoor light alone: the dining hall, and Havdalah, low and warm with no flash.
75-300daylight reach
Sailing, boating, and waterskiing on the lake. The far end of the sports field. A group of campers walking toward you. Faces in a crowd, outdoors. Candids from far enough away that nobody performs for the camera. Keep the shutter at or above the zoom number, faster is better: at 300mm aim for 1/500 and raise the ISO to get there. It struggles indoors, so leave it in the bag at night.